Mutual Understanding
by Amalia Autumn
Summary: Words were not needed to express what they felt, instead they would quietly sit together in mutual understanding.


When Winry's parents died, Ed and Al didn't truly understand she'd lost the two most important people in her life. They offered a shoulder when she cried, listened to her frustrated yelling when she did something wrong, but they never understood. And she did notice this, because every time they told her it was okay, she would constantly reply, "No! It's not okay! You idiots just don't get it!"

Ed would get angry, yell back at her and call her a 'whiny little crybaby', while Al would just stare at her sadly.

And then, when Trisha died, Winry would try to be the confidante, but they did the same thing to her, if not worse. Al would cry but not wish to be comforted, Ed would stay quiet and stare out into space, eyebrows furrowed as if trying to figure out a difficult mathematical equation. There were times when Winry actually wondered if her best friends had actually gone crazy. There were days when she herself thought she'd snap, waking up early just to sleep in her parents' empty bed, and then realizing they were not there to keep her warm.

There were times Ed would mumble some things about water, carbon, amonia, phosphorus, and then mention something about liters, kilograms, and fifteen trace amounts of something. Al would do it, too, either correcting Ed on an 'error', or even mumbling other specific things. It actually kind of scared her.

One night, when dinner was served, Winry moved to sit, but only to realize the brothers were not in their seats. They weren't even in the house.

Pinako was mumbling something about warming up their dinner for later when Winry stalked out of the house and walked down the main road to the Elric home. She was so angry, tears brimming in her eyes, fists clenched, punching a mailbox while passing by, did they not think of how _she _felt?!?! She knew and missed and loved Trisha, too! It seemed everyone she loved was being taken away, why?!?!

Before she was even aware of where she was, Winry rudely barged in the vacant house, stomped up the stairs, and kicked the brothers' bedroom door open, and before she knew it, she was yelling at the two boys without any sincerity,

"Do you idiots have any idea what time it is?!?! And yet here you are caught up in this house! Aren't you guys even hungry?!?! Do you even know what food _is _anymore?!?! You know, the _things you need to eat_?!?! I can't believe you two! I--!"

She stopped when realizing Al was beginning to cry and Ed was obviously seeing red. Her throat closed, and she stared vacantly at them, blinking rather innocently for someone who was screaming like a banshee moments before.

And then someone else was yelling. It wasn't Al, it wasn't Winry. It was Ed, rare emotions bubbling to the surface, he was the one standing firmly on his feet and not caring if his hair got in the way of his vision. Heck, if his vision could burn, he would have lost about four inches of his bangs.

He yelled some things about her being a selfish little brat, an annoying little crybaby, and a stupid idiot who _just didn't understand._

Just didn't understand?

_Just didn't understand?_

"I understand more than anyone!" Winry tried yelling, but she felt herself beginning to crumble, realizing too late that what Edward said actually hurt her feelings. Sadly, Winry always registered that something hurt just seconds after it hurt her, and a few seconds was always too late. She fell to her knees on the floor between them and cried, not caring if Ed called her a crybaby. Soon after she cried, she heard Al crying harder as well, hugging her tightly. And then, to her surprise, she heard Ed quietly crying as well. She blindly reached for him and hugged him with her free arm, but he didn't hug her back. Instead they just sat there, all crying, words were not needed, instead, they sat there.

For a long time since the three had met, they never needed words to express how they felt. Instead, when things got bad, they would sit together quietly, in mutual understanding.

This time was no different.

**Sorry for the lack of updates. I've just been really busy, really stressed, and so on. I also apologize for the rather vague oneshot. I'll try to update every now and then, but I assure you I'm not dead yet.**


End file.
